This is a quadrans of Augustus. It is minted in the year 9BC, so about three years before what we now believe to be the actual year of Jesus’ birth (6BC). The obverse (front) of this coin shows hands clasping. This is a symbol of the “trust” that people in the Roman Empire are to have in one another. It is this call to be trusting of others in the Empire that will help Christianity spread quickly because people could travel relatively freely from place to place. This type coin would have been in use during the first century as people heard the Widow’s Mite text. Ruler: Augustus Date: 9BC Denomination: Quadrans Obverse: Clasping Hands Reverse: SC Reference: Sear 1693

This Augustus quadrans shows a bowl shaped altar. Worship of various deities was important for the lives of the Romans. From a leadership point of view it would provide unity in the Empire since all had to worship the Roman gods. But there was also a custom of allowing conquered lands to keep their own deities too. The purpose of this was to allow the local population to keep some of their traditions while under Roman rule and not add more reasons for them to want to revolt. This mandate to worship Roman gods will of course be a major problem for early Christians. Sometimes the local Roman leadership would look the other way when Christians did not participate and at other times there were persecutions. Ruler: Augustus Date: 5BC Denomination: Quadrans Obverse: Altar Reverse: SC Reference: Sear 1699v

We now move to a quadrans of Tiberius, in fact one of the first ones that will be minted during his reign. Here we have another altar symbol on the reverse of this coin. I will use it to make mention of a Roman practice of having a meal from the animal that was sacrificed to the god(s). There were specific parts of the animal that had to be offered and thus fully burnt, but there were other parts of the animal that could be offered as food to those present. This will be a helpful tradition for the Christian preachers when speaking with Roman citizens about the Eucharist (or the Breaking of the Bread) as both a “sacrifice” and a “meal.” Ruler: Tiberius Date: 14/15 AD Denomination: Quadrans Obverse: Tiberius Reverse: Altar Reference: Sear 1773